By Your Side
by bigdogg0821
Summary: A Rhysha fanfiction about marriage and having a child
1. Chapter 1

The couple couldn't fall asleep this night. It was about 2 in the morning, the news they'd gotten couldn't be forgotten. No, I didn't mean for that to rhyme. I don't do poetry. Anyways, they laid in bed next to each other

"Wow... I never would've thought THIS would happen." Sasha said. She had a hand on her stomach and rested her other arm next to her. Rhys had his arms behind his head. He was smiling uncontrollably.

"So what are we naming him?" He turned his head to look at her. She still held her gaze upwards.

"'Him'? I want to name 'her' Sharliene." She said back.

"Pfft yeah. If it IS a her. But since it's gonna be a him, I'm going with Rhys, the legendary name will live on, I say."

"Hey. Are you carrying the kid? No. I should name the thing."

"But you just called the kid a thing! That's not mom like! I'm more of the better parent right now." He said as he nudged her side.

"You could have just killed the baby! How dare you! At least I didn't attempt murder." She said with a fake look of shock on her face.

"So they said you were how far along?" Rhys tried to stay on a serious manner for this one time.

"Um... two.. months?" She replied. Sasha had now turned her head towards him.

"Just us... being parents. It's so weird. I-I know we got engaged and all. But it feels like it's gone so fast."

"That's okay. It's the same here. I don't think I'm ready, neither of us are. Are we gonna be okay?" She asked. Rhys moved closer towards her and answered.

"Of course we will! I believe in you, and I know you believe in me.. riight?" She started to laugh when she said this.

"..Okay so you don't believe in me. T-That's fine you know. I open up and this happens." She rolled her eyes and agreed.

"Yes.. you'll be an -okay- dad. And I'll be the best mom obviously."

"Whaaat.. of course you'll be the best 'MOM'. I don't want to be the best mom, of course. I'm gonna be the best dad. So ha!"

"Boy am I glad I'm not that." She concluded. They sat there until about 3 in the morning and finally drifted to sleep.

[About 6 months later...]

"Hey Rhyyyys! Come here!" Sasha called from their bedroom. He was in their soon to be child's room, now rushing towards their room.

"Yeah?" Rhys said, peeking in at the doorway. She was standing by her mirror.

"How do I look?" She turned and showed off her outfit.

"You look nice as usual. Like I said before, your belly doesn't matter." He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway. She took pleasure in his compliment.

"Thanks.. Ah, my back's killing me... When are we leaving?"

"Few minutes. You sure you don't want to just stay here? Y-You know. The luxury of a comfy bed."

"No Rhys. I'm due any day now. I need to be next to equipment in case things go bad. Things do go bad, you know. If I stay here for the birth... Where's the help if it goes wrong?" He looked down and replied.

"At the.. hospital?"

"At the hospital. We have to go to the hospital."

"But remember what happened the LAST time we went to a hospital?"

"Yeah. That is definitely valid... But this one's different. A better neighborhood where people don't get stabbed by Psychos. We did move away from there." After this, the 2 were silent for a few minutes. Then, Sasha fell backwards onto the bed and covered her eyes with her hands.

"I'm scared.. I've been reading.. and this is supposed to hurt, like so bad when it finally happens. As if all the puking and aches weren't enough. Is it gonna be worth it?" She asked. Rhys began to approach her slowly, and laid next to her.

"It will! I'm going to be here, hon. I'll always be, and just think about it. Our own kid... Think about it! You're strong. You have been through all of this, and I'm proud. You can't give up now, it's almost over. You've gotten through it up to now, you can do this." Rhys said, encouraging her.

"I guess we should go then. You gonna stay with me?"

"Of course."

"Thanks." She said with a smile. They got in their car and drove to the hospital.

[Yes. Another time skip. 2 weeks later...]

It was about 1 in the morning when Rhys woke up to a sharp pinch in his side. He turned and saw a distressed Sasha, her eyes wide open.

"Rhys. Water. Broke. Please help." She mumbled while now wincing. He began to panick.

"Oh shit... I'm gonna press the call button. I can't believe this is happenin-"

"Shut up and DO IT." She said sharply. He pushed the button and spoke quickly.

"Hey. So funny thing.. we have a woman giving birth up here an-" He was interrupted by her screams of pain. The office sent doctors. Rhys returned to her side.

"They are coming.. what can I d-"

"Give me something to fucking punch I DON'T KNOW!"

"Okay... okay. Um... Everything in here is valuable so.."

"Book. That book over there." Rhys looked at the dictionary. He picked it up and returned.

"Okay.. go." His mistake was how he held the book in front of his head. When Sasha hit it, the book sort of clocked him in the face. He fell back into the chair and was gripping his bloody nose.

"I'm soooOORRYYYY!"

"It's fine. It's fine... God dammit where the hell are the doctors." He declared as he switched on the light.

"You may have to do this..."

"WHAT?!"

"IF THEY AREN'T COMING I CAN'T DO THIS MYSELF, RHYS."

"A-are you sure? Because I think you're supposed to do all of the work anyways. Would anyone else really-"

"RHYS NOW IS NOT THE TIME DAMN IT!" She screamed. He unwillingly approached.

"Okay... I officially now hate hospital care." Just as he started to reach for her leggings, the doctors came, rushing through the door.

"Ohhh thank God. You guys could not ha-"

"RHYS. PLEASE."

"Okay.. I'll just sit right here, then." He was a bit relieved now that he didn't have to do the whole procedure.

"I think that's for the best." One of the doctors said. Before Rhys could mouth a word, Sasha grabbed his arm.

"Don't. Say. Anything." She glared directly at him. He didn't know what terrified him more: the baby coming or the soon to be mother in labor with said baby. He reached his hand out and had to join it with his other hand as soon as she applied pressure.

After about 6 hours, the baby girl was diagnosed healthy, and so was Sasha. Rhys had a sprained wrist, not surprisingly. He denied any care. All he wanted right now was to be with his family. He took a seat next to Sasha and the baby on her bed.

"Whew. That.. was exhausting. I mean it did hurt. It hurt a shit ton. But now it doesn't. Weird."

"I won't complain. You turn into a damned monster when in pain."

"Hah. Yeah. I guess I do."

"Like a little tank. Heh."

"Stop talking." She said while in a mixture of blushing and giggling. Now came the 2nd hardest part.

"What are we naming hi- her. Her?" He asked.

"We can.. decide later. For helping, you can hold her I guess. Maybe you can get her to stop crying." He sat and laid down next to Sasha, now taking the baby from her

"Well hello there... If you can hear me. I have like a splitting headache... could you maybe shut up or something?"

"Hey.. that's not how it works. And I think I have a worse one than yours."

"Fine. Hey, why not look at my weird face? It's all weird and stuff." The baby started to calm down as Rhys made different facial expressions.

"There you go.. I think they gotta take her back for now." He wasn't focused right now, so he didn't hear her the first time.

"I think the nice doctors standing in front of you want to make sure our baby is not dying, Rhys." He looked up and saw the men in front of him.

"Oh." He reluctantly handed the baby off. They were both very tired now, after all of the excitement.

"Never thought I would fall asleep this... early? Late? I don't know."

"You're too goofy, Rhys. Goodni-Good morning..."

"See? What did I say?"

"I don't know. You have me there. Good one..." The size of the bed allowed Rhys to sleep by Sasha's side. Like he promised.

Fin. 


	2. Still Young

"Rhys... Can you go this time?" Sasha barely whispered at the sound of the young child's crying.

"Aww...Again?"

"Yes... Pretty please?" Rhys knew she needed some rest, so he didn't argue much. He stood and walked over to the baby's room while rubbing his eyes. The piercing shrieks continued while he picked her up and lightly rocked her in his arm.

"Shh-sh-sh-sh.. pleeease little Sharliene, I wanna sleeeep..." Eventually, she fell silent and slept in Rhys' arms. He lowered the infant back into the cradle and went back towards the room. Sasha was out cold, and looked pretty exhausted. It'd been pretty hard to raise a kid, they'd give each other that. He quickly put a kiss on her forehead before towering into bed. Just as he was about to fall to sleep, he heard that voice next to him.

"Rhys."

"..Yeah?"

"I.. thanks. Just wanted to say that."

"Don't worry about it, Sash."

The next morning, Rhys woke up to an empty bed. He figured Sasha would be in the baby's room, so he checked there first. She was leaned against a wall with Sharliene in her arms.

"Hey there."

"Hi."

"Uh...How'd you sleep?"

"Well, it's not exactly easy to sleep anymore. There's not much pain now, it's just impossible to sleep without worrying about her." A concerned look spread across her face.

"She's been fine.. I mean the time she's been with us so far. I think we're gonna do fine." Rhys smiled at her as he crossed his arms and leaned on the wall next to Sasha.

"Yeah..." She shared his smile and looked down at the baby.

"So I have a question, Rhys."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Well... I know you aren't up for going anywhere at the moment, but maybe we can get Vaughn and Fiona to babysit?"

"That depends, where?"

"Only a restaurant or something. It'll be fine!"

"I'm not..sure..."

"Rhys, it's okay now. I can move without hurting. Come on, please?" Her emerald eyes met his concerned gaze.

"Oh... crap. Don't ask me like that..."

"Oh I'll DEFINITELY ask like this." She raised an eyebrow and smiled while putting Sharliene back in the crib.

"...Okay... Okay! Fine. Call them, I guess-"

"Thanks Rhys!" She wrapped her arms around his midsection before he could finish.

"Go call before I.. uh.. change my mind?" Sasha had left the room after a few more seconds of the hug.

[Later..]

"Don't forget we get paid by the hour, Rhys!" Vaughn said as Rhys pulled on his leather jacket.

"Yeah I know. I'd probably have paid you more without that statement, bud." He returned the skeptical look his bro was giving him.

"Dammit Vaughn, I could have used that extra cash."

"You can use any extra cash, Fi." Sasha said, coming out from the bedroom.

"Heyyy what's wrong with a few extra bucks?"

"Nothing at all.. Come on Rhys. And thanks guys, just help yourself to anything in the fridge-"

"Oh yeah, except for my wine." Rhys chimed in.

"..Except for Rhys' wine."

"That all?" Fiona asked.

"Yep. And if she get's hungry there's some formula in the cabinet above the sink, aaand where did Sasha go?"

"Car already. Look, Rhys. Can you keep an eye on her? Not that she's looking bad but she's obviously not her best right now."

"I'm.. not gonna say she is at her best. Yeah, will do."

"Thanks, don't forget the usual. Don't let her get shot and I won't shoot you."

"Gooot it. Later." Rhys walked towards the car to see Sasha in the driver's seat.

"I thought I was driving?"

"Nooo, why think that?"

"Uh.. y-... you know..."

"I was grabbing my money Rhys..."

"Ahhh so I should-"

"Yeah. You should drive." After switching, they drove off.

When they got there, they took their seats at a table in the middle of the room. They would never sit across from each other, always next to each other.

"So what are you gonna get?"

"I-uh... I don't know to be fair. Just a salad probably."

"That's.. it? You haven't eaten in 3 days."

"Mmmhm. Haven't been hungry." She gave a shrug as Rhys gave a concerned stare.

After they told the waitress what they wanted, there was a long period of silence between them.

"So... How do you think they're holding up?" He referred to their friends, the temporary babysitters.

"Trust me, Rhys. I'd rather not think about that. I'm glad we got to go out, though. It's... nice. To get a break, even if it's only for a few hours." She let out a few laughs as she said this.

"I can't disagree there... Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Do, what? Exactly? We already ordered our food, not much to consider now."

"Right... And speak of the food, there it is. Convenience!" A different waiter had brought the food this time. Rhys' plate was drastically larger than Sasha's. He noticed this and was about to point it out to the waiter when Sasha stopped him.

"It's fine."

"I can share, if you want."

"I told you, not that hungry right now. Just eat what you want and I might have some of yours."

"Alright, you have to eat though."

"I will! Don't worry." He reluctantly started to eat. After he finished about half of his food, Rhys slid his plate over to Sasha, who only took a few bites of hers.

"Uh.. You don't want that, do you?"

"I-No.. Not really."

"Well, why'd you get one?"

"Look, I didn't think much of it. I won't let this.. half of a steak... go to waste, though."

"You, uh.. wanted more than that?"

"Yeah, but this'll be fine." After Sasha was done, she checked the time on her watch.

"Oh.. It's almost midnight. We should probably go."

"That was... a nice change, wasn't it?"

"It sure was, Rhys. Thanks for this." She grabbed his hand.

"My treat, no problem Sash. Let's go." The two got in the car and drove home. When they walked in, everything had actually seemed calm.

"Wow.. this.. I'm confused with this." Rhys whispered in case of peeping ears.

"Yeah.. This isn't right. Guys!" Sasha didn't seem to care about a stealthy approach.

"In here!" Vaughn called from the dining room. They rounded the corner to see Fiona and Vaughn playing cards, with Sharliene on Fiona's lap.

"We're back guys."

"Ah, I can see that." Fiona said while observing her deck.

"Wait, here we go. Ha! No go-fishing for you." She said after placing her card down.

"So. Wanna leave?" Sasha urged.

"No, wait. Fiona, do you have like 20 cards there?" Rhys eyed her deck with a look of awe.

"We.. got bored and made our own 'extreme mode'. Actually, we started with almost 30 each."

"You guys eat or drink anything?"

"Ohh! Yell at Vaughn, he took a shot of your wine."

"Damn it Fiona! Yeah Rhys, just a small shot. It's cool, I didn't drink it until the kid fell asleep. You know she likes being rocked?"

"Ugh, fine. It's cool."

"Now wait, where's my shot? And my money? I wanna get tipsy with some money in my pocket so I feel rich."

"Calm down I have it right here. Besides, you can feel half of that already. Unless you bought more steampunk outfits."

"Super true. So yeah, nothing really happened, baby took a shit but Vaughn the man took care of that."

"Vaughn the man." Vaughn repeated as he bumped his chest.

"That sounds about as realistic as how well our date went." Rhys said in a skeptic tone.

"Umm, I don't think they're lying. She's fast asleep in her crib."

"Seee?"

"Alright, good work guys. Sash, pay the nice babysitters we both know and love?"

"Yes, here you guys go. 35... and 35." She dug through her wallet and pulled the combination of bills.

"Thanks.. And for the rest of the 5 for each of us, can we just crash here?" Rhys turned to Sasha with a face that agreed with the question.

"Oh.. Alright. Fine, just don't wake Sharliene up." The other 3 silently celebrated. Fiona and Vaughn wandered off to get blankets and pillows from the spares while Rhys dug through the fridge. He returned to Sasha with the wine bottle that wasn't opened yet.

"You know.. Since everything else went right, why not just a little treat for all our hard work?" He handed the bottle in Sasha's direction as she placed a hand on her hip.

"But, you we didn't really do anything."

"Eeexactly. It's been a good night, take advantage while we're still young. He grabbed 2 glasses and sat at the table.

"Fine, but because I sort of want to, too." She took another seat and took a glass from his hand.

"To... us." He poured the drinks.

"To us." They both took a sip from their drinks.


End file.
